Piece feeder for flatwork ironers



' ,46- 1 Y 1 64-1784 Sept L. R. SAGER ET AL PIECE FEEDER FOR FLATWORK IEONERS .Filed Dec. 13, 1926 I 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 z 45 W .kaym d #1 M 1,641,784 P 6 7' R. SAGER ET AL PIECE FEEDER FOR FLATWORK IRONERS Filed Dec. 15, 1926 s Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept, 6, 1927. 1,641,784

L. R. SAGER ET AL PIECE FEEDER FOR FLATWORK IRONERS Filed Dec. 13, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Sept. 6, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT oF -ie.

LEE'R. SAGER AND; RAYMOND H. ,MITCI-IELL, or MINNEAPOLIS, iviimvnso'ra,

rincnrnnnsn ron rizA'rwon'x IRONERS.

Application filed December 13, 1926. Serial No. 154,399.

Our invention has forits object to provide a relatively simple device for feeding fiat laundered pieces to a flat'work roner, and

to this end it consistsof the novel devices. and combinations of devices hereinafter de-.

' fiat piece may be secured and held transversely taut and then carried toward the ironer, and automatically released to the ironer for movement therethrougln While one end of the piece is thus held and being carried to the ironer, the body of .said piece is being smoothed out and put under a stretching action, 'so that the piece will enter the ironer smooth and without Wrinkles.

The invention further provides means for continuing the smoothing and stretching action of the piece after the same has been released from the carrier and is being fed into the ironer under the action thereof.

' By the use of the invention, all danger of an operator being hurt by the ironer, dur mg the feeding of a piece thereto is eliminated.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

' Referring to the drawings:

Fig.1 is a right side elevation of the invention, and also showing a flat work ironer partly in longitudinal central section and partly in diagram;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view corresponding to Fig. 1 with the exception that the feeder is shown partly in central longitudi nal section and with some parts shown in different positions, by means of broken lines;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the invention, on an enlarged scale; 7

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the carrier, as shown by full lines in 0 Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail view with some parts sectioned on the line 55 of on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2 on an enlarged scale.

' For the purpose of illustrating the rela tion of the invention to a flat work ironer,

such an ironer is diagrammatically illustrated ln-thedrawings, and of the parts thereof, it is important to note the framev 7,

upper and lower steam cylinders- 8 and 9 11 respectively,"feed ribbon 12 and deck 13 therefor, guide rolls 14 co-operating with respectively, upper and lower aprons 10 and i the upper cylinderS, and delivery board'15.

ard and well known construction.

- Referring now in detail to the invention, the numeral 16 indicates a frame having an inclined top extension 17 which ov'erlies the feed ribbon 12 and extends substantially parallel to the top or "operating surface thereof. Mount-ed in the frame 16 are inner and outer baskets, l8 and 19. respectively.

Extending transversely of the frame 16between the baskets 18 and 19, is a'b'rush comprising bristles 20 which extend above said baskets and are secured to a back bar 21 in the basket 19.

The parts thus far referred to are of stand- A U-shaped rack or carrier 22 has the outer ends of its arms pivoted'at 23 to the top side members of the frame 16 substan-f 'tially at the junction of the top extension 17 therewith. The mounting of the carrier 22 on the frame 161s such as to permit vertical swingmg movement of sai-dcarrier over the frame 16 from its dotted line position to its full line position shown in Fig. 2. Said carrier 22, when in its dotted line position, overlies the frame 16 with its transverse member just outside of the basket .18, and

extends substantially parallel over the frame extension 17 with its transverse member substantially overlying the delivery end of the feed ribbon 12.

when in said full line position, said'carrier' When the carrier 22 isin said dotted line position, it loosely rests on buffers 24 on the frame 16, and when in said full line' position rests on buffers 25,011 the frame top extension 17. v

The transverse member of the carrier 22 affords a relatively fixed clamping member 27, and co-operating with the end portions thereof are two endwise spaced clamping bars 28, each of which is independently at-- tached to the outer edge portion of said member 27'by a spring hinge 29 under strain to open the respective clamping member, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 5. Each clamping bar '28 is provided with a handle atch plates 31.

engaged with the latch 30 by which it may be closed against the tension of its spring hinge 29. Said clamping bars 28 are also provided with latch plates31 which pro ect from the outer end thereof. Latches 32 arecintermediately pivoted to the arms of the carrier 22 for en gagement with the latch'plates 31, to hold. the clamping bars 28 pressed onto the clamping bar 27. the arms of the Coiled springs 33, anchored to carrier 22 are attached to the outer end portions ofthe latches 32 and ieldingly hold said latches engaged with the Toggle levers bers pivoted to the arms of the carrier'22, and their other members pivoted to the latches 32 and positively hold said latches plates 31. I Abutments 35 on theside Inembersofthe frame topextension 17 are arranged to be engaged bythe toggle'levers 34 during the togg , cured to thearms of the carrier 22, andits i the opposite side bristles 38 project upward when said carrier .is in its full line position shown in Fig. 2.

A long rod 39 is flexibly connected at 40 to of the clamping bar 27 fromthe clamping bars 28 for swinging the carrier 22. to and from its full line position, as shown in Fig. 2. Buffers al on the clamping bar 27 limit the opening; movements of the clamping bars 28. i

V The operation of the invention may be briefly described as follows: I Laundered fiat pieces to be ironed are placed in the basket 19 and picked out, one ata time, shaken out and placed in. the basket 18 in position to be fed to the ironer. It is, of'course, understood that the ironer is, at this'time, heated and -.'running, and that i the carrier 22 is positioned as indicated by broken lines in Fig. 2. In this position of the clamping'bars 28 are at the carrier 22,

bar 27 and are the top of the clamping .yieldingly held open by their spring hinges 29. V

In thebasket 18 is a sheet m to be ironed. One end of this sheet is laid over the clamping bar 27 and one of the clamping bars 28 is pressed onto the same by taking hold of its handle 30 and swinging said bar against the action of its spring 29 onto the respective corner port1on of the sheet at.

.While this clamping bar 28 is thus held, the

adjacent latch 32 is operated to engage its attached to the 34k have one of their 1nem-' operate the latches 32 o feeder, all

latch plate 31 by straightening'the toggle '34 attached to said lever, as best shown in Fig. 4. With one corner of the sheet 00 thus held, the respective end of'the sheet is transversely stretched, and its opposite corner secured by the other clamping bar 28. After the sheet I I p carrier 22, said carrier is" swung by thehand rod '39 from its dotted line position to its full line position in Fig. 2.v During this swinging movement of the carrier 22 the sheet a: is carried over and onto the brush bristles 20 which operate to spreadthesheet an out and also produce suflicient drag thereon to stretch said sheet out flat. V\Thile this movement of the carrier is taking place, theoperator' may assist in shaking out and straightening the sheet so thatit will lie flat on the brush bristles 20. Just before the carrier 22 comes to rest on the bufiers 25, the toggel levers 34 engage the abutments 35 and are buckled thereby ,to operate the latches 32 and release the clamping bars 28.

Upon the releasing of the clamping bars 28, their spring hinges 29 swing the same.

into open positions, as shown by broken lines in Fig. 5, and thereby release the held end of the sheet m and permitthe same to drop onto the'feed ribbon 12. The travelling action of this feed ribbon 12 will carry the adjacent end of the sheet 00 under the first ,roll. 14 and onto the steam cylinder'8 which continues the feeding action of the sheet a:

into theironer. During the swinging move- Y ment of the carrier 22 just described, the

clamping bars 28 have been reversed and are on the under side of the clamping bar 27, so that the sheet is free to drop onto the feed ribbon 12. This reverse action of the carrier 22 also brings the brush bristles 38 into operative positions so that the sheet a; rests thereon and the smoothing andv spreading action started by the bristles 20 r is continued by the bristles 38 during the feeding of the sheet into the iron under the action thereof.

The purpose of the roll 36 is to facilitate the movement of the sheet at onto the clamping bar 27 when securing the same by the clamping bars 28.

After the sheet 09 1s passed over the brush bristles 38, the operator returns the carrier 22 to its original position by means of the hand rod 39.

By the use of the above described invention, flat pieces may be very quickly and accura-telyfed to the ironer so that they are ironed perfectly smooth without wrinkles or creases.

As previously stated, by the use of the danger of an operator being hurt by the ironer is eliminated.

In actual practice, the piece-engaging surface of the clamping bar 27 will be covered with a cushion strip, such as cotton, felt til or the like. Such a cover will assist in cansing the piece held by the clamps to more freely let go of the carrier 22 so that the same will drop smoothly onto the feed ribbon 12.

l/Vhat we claim is: V

1. In a feeder of the kind described, the combination with a frame, of carrier hav ing a piece-holding clamp and mounted on the frame for movement toand from a piece releasing position, means for releasing the clamp, and a piece-holding basket on the frame from which a piece is drawn by the carrier during its movement to the piecereleasing position.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 in further combination with a brush over which the piece held by said clamp is drawn by the carrier during its movement to said piecereleasing position.

3. In a feeder of the kind described, the combination with a frame, of a carrier having a pieceholding clamp and mounted for swinging movement to and from a piecereleasing position, automatic means for releasing the clamp during the swinging movement of the carrier to its piece-releasing position, and a hand rod on the carrier by which said carrier may be swung to and from its piece-releasing position.

4. In a feeder of the kind described, the combination with a frame, of a carrier having a. piece-holding clamp and mounted for swinging movement to and from a piece-releasing position, automatic means for releasing the clamp during the swinging movement of the carrier to its piece-releasing position. and a piece-holding basket on the frame from which a piece is drawn by the carrier during its movement to and from the piece-releasing position.

5. In a feeder of the kind described, the combination with a frame, of a carrier having a piece-holding clamp and mounted for swinging movement to and from a piecereleasing position, automatic means for re leasing the clamp during the swinging movement of the carrier to its piece-releasing position, apiece holding basket on the frame from which a. piece is drawn by the carrier during its movement to the piece releasing position, and a brush over which the piece in the basket is drawn by the carrier dur ing its swinging movement to-said piecereleasing position.

6. In a feeder of the kind described, the combination with the frame, of a carrier mounted on frame for movement to and from a piece-releasing position, a spring-releasedpiece-holding clamp on the carrier, a latch forholding the clamp operative, a toggle lever holding the latch operative, and.

an abutment for buckling the toggle lever during themovement of the carrier to said piece-releasing position to operate the latch and release the clamp.

7. In a feeder of the kind described, the combination with a frame having an inclined extension adapted to overlie the feed ribbon of a flat work ironer, of a carrier having a piece-holding clamp and mounted on the frame for swinging movement to and from apiece-releasing position in which it overlies said frame extension, and automatic means for causing the clamp to release the held piece.

8. In a feeder of the kind described, the

combination with a frame, of a carrier having a pair of spring-released piece holding clamping members latches for holding the clamping members operative, said carrier being mounted for movement to and from a piece-releasing position, and automatic means for simultaneously operating said latches to release the clamping members.

9. In a feeder of the kind described, the combination with a frame, of a carrier having means for holding one edge of a piece thereon, and means for operating the carrier to cause the same to spread out the piece and then release the same.

10. In a feeder of thekind described, the combination with a frame, of a carrier, clamping means for holding one edge of a piece transversely stretched on the carrier. means for operating the carrier to spread out the piece, and means for releasing the piece at the limit of the movement of the carrier to spread out said piece.

11. In a feeder of the kind described, the combination with a frame, of a carrier, clamping means for holding one edge of a piece transverselv stretched on the upper face of the carrier, means for operating tlv carrier to spread out the piece and for reversing the carrier to bring the hold edge of the piece and the clamping means on the under side thereof, and means. for releasing the clamping means and moving'the same from under the held edge of the piece at the limit of the movement of the carrier to spread out said piece.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures.

LEE R. SAGER. RAYMOND H. MITCHELL. 

